DOCUMENT: Internet, Crime

Twitter Pimp Being Sought By FBI Task Force

Feds hunt man for trafficking underage prostitutes

King Kutta

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King Kutta Warrant

APRIL 4--FBI agents are searching for an alleged sex trafficker who pimps out underage girls and is continuing to post Twitter messages bragging about hookers he has put on the street, The Smoking Gun has learned.

Federal investigators last month secured a sealed arrest warrant for Marquist Bradford, 26, who has been charged with sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion, a felony carrying a prison term of 15 years to life.

Bradford, a wannabe rapper who has produced videos for several of his songs, uses the nickname “King Kutta Mackin” and has recently resided in Sacramento, California (where his apartment was searched by investigators in early-February). Bradford's rap repertoire includes "Misfortune" and "Super Rich."

The Chicago native’s Twitter account, @king_kutta, describes him as a “fresh fly nigga love doin me and love liven!!$$ money is my movation and bein broke is my Fear!” In a tweet yesterday, Bradford, pictured above, wrote, “Just put a new bitch down $$ let's see if she can keep dis money comin round $.”

[Update: Bradford’s Twitter account was deleted several hours after this story was published.]

The FBI began probing Bradford two months ago, after a 15-year-old girl told cops that she had escaped from her pimp, whom she identified as Bradford. The teenager told cops that she had repeatedly run away from her aunt’s home and “had been involved in prostitution with different pimps” over the prior 18 months, according to a U.S. District Court filing.

The girl told investigators that she was referred to “King Kutta Mackin” by a 17-year-old prostitute whom she befriended. The older girl, who worked for Bradford, was known as “Princess.”

After communicating for several weeks via Facebook, “Bradford eventually bought a Greyhound bus ticket” for the 15-year-old, who traveled from Fresno to Sacramento and began living with the alleged pimp in his apartment. The teen told investigators that Bradford immediately “posted advertisements for her as a prostitute” on one escort service web site.

The girl told federal agents that she worked as a hooker for Bradford “for at least two weeks” in Santa Rosa, Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, and San Jose. The teenager added that she believed that “Princess” had been “working as a prostitute for Bradford for the past three years.”

The 15-year-old said that she fled from Bradford after he beat her for not listening to him. The girl said that the alleged pimp “knocked her to the ground, then began stomping in her upper body.” She added that Bradford had, days earlier, administered a similar beating to “Princess,” who “still had visible injuries.”

Bradford is seen at right with “Princess” in a photo from the teen’s Facebook page.

As they hunt for Bradford, federal agents have monitored his Facebook page and determined that he has traveled from Sacramento with “Princess” and “appeared to be continuing to pimp in Chicago, Virginia, and New York.” The court filing alleges that Bradford has had a “lengthy history” of pimping minors, and that he has frequently used online outlets like backpage.com and myredbook.com to advertise an assortment of prostitutes.

Photos posted online show Bradford with money stuffed in his pants pockets and holding a Louis Vuitton bag (caption: “#Ustunttin When you’re louie bag coust more than niggas cars$$”).  His collection of Polo shirts is also memorialized. Two other images show large cash stashes in a shoe box and a bag. The latter photo is captioned “Bags Packed ready to go.” (6 pages)